Chiropractic Care for Back Pain
In order to fully understand the symptoms so many people experience, it is important to know a little bit about the anatomy of the back. The spine is made up of 24 vertebrae that consist of 1 disc and two joints known as facet joints. These three components work together to allow the movement in the spine. As long as it is healthy and functioning correctly, the low back can withstand tremendous forces without injury. Power lifters can pick up several hundred pounds off the floor without injuring their low back. However, if the biomechanics of the low back are compromised, something as simple as taking a bag of groceries out, picking a pencil up off the floor, or even simply bending down can cause a low back injury. If any one of the three parts of the vertebra stop functioning properly, then they all fail causing mobility to be impaired. Mobility is essential for healthy, functioning joints. Because adults do not have a direct blood supply to the joints, mobility is required to pump fluid in and out of the joints, remove toxins and carbon dioxide, and supply oxygen, water and nutrients. If mobility is impaired, the joints become "locked" which can pinch or irritate the nerves in and around the spine. The nervous system controls every muscle, gland, tissue, and organ in the body, so if a nerve is pinched or irritated it can lead to many more problems than just pain, weakness and numbness. When the nerves become pinched it is known as a subluxation. If this problem goes untreated, it will eventually lead to degeneration in the discs which leads to bulging and herniations.
There are several conditions that can result in low back pain, including: sprained ligaments, strained muscles, herniated or bulging disks, trigger points and inflamed joints. While sports injuries or accidents can lead to injury and pain, sometimes even the simplest movements, like picking up a pencil from the floor, can have painful results. In addition, conditions such as arthritis, poor posture, obesity, psychological stress and even kidney stones, kidney infections, tumors or stress fractures can lead to pain. Due to the fact that many conditions can cause low back pain, and some of those things can be quite serious if left untreated, it is important to seek professional help. Chiropractors are the experts at diagnosing the cause and determining the proper treatment for low back pain.
A common misconception that used to be fostered by family doctors is that back pain will heal on its own. What they found though is that their patients stopped mentioning the pain and sought care elsewhere, looking for options other than drugs and surgery. Even if it does go away temporarily, it usually returns. Typically each recurring episode is worse than the earlier. Chiropractic for the low back has been repeatedly shown to be the most effective treatment for low back pain. In fact, major studies have shown that chiropractic care is more effective, cheaper and has better long-term outcomes than any other treatment. This makes sense because chiropractic care is the only method of treatment that serves to re-establish normal mobility and position in the spine. Treatments, such as muscle relaxants, pain killers and bed rest, only serve to decrease the symptoms of the problem temporarily and do not correct the problem itself. Although they are heavily promoted, over the counter pain and prescription relievers have many serious side effects including kidney and liver damage. By delaying the treatment of back pain with chiropractic care you are risking developing chronic back pain and problems.
In addition, there are many nutritional herbal and homeopathy treatments which we offer to our patients, that not help relieve the symptoms, but also speed the healing process. We offer a very unique, high tech approach to determining your nutritional needs.
Massage therapy can be a very effective addition to Chiropractic care. We have licensed massage therapists on staff.
Decompression therapy can also speed the healing process as this treatment increase mobility in the three joint complex.
Proprioceptive rehab exercises can retrain and strengthen the stabilizing muscle of the spine.
Chiropractic Health • Massage Therapy • Nutrition • Rehab • Acupuncture • Homeopathy
